The Government's policy to cut the employee's EPF contribution rate from the existing 11% to 8% is basically using our future savings and income to boost the present dire state of economy. It is sacrificing our retirement protection for the present short-term relief.

To boost our economy, the government should be reducing 3% of the Goods & Services Tax (GST) instead of reducing 3% of the employee's contribution rate.

The reduction of 3% of the contribution rate today will severely affect 80% of the contributors' retirement plan and livelihood, especially those belonging to the middle and lower income group.

According to the report by the CEO of the EPF board in March, 2015, 80% of the contributors will be living at poverty level after retirement.

In his report, he highlight that, there were about 14 million EPF contributors, out of which, 69% will have less than RM50,000 EPF savings upon retirement. Without any extra income, they will finish this savings within 5 years.

In fact, the recommended savings for retirement according to the EPF board is RM196,800, a sum which is sufficient to pay for a meagre monthly expenses of RM800 for a period of 20 years.

Bearing in mind that the poverty income level in Malaysia is RM830 per month. Even with an EPF savings of RM196,800 upon retirement, that contributor will still be living under poverty level for 20 years after retirement.

The shocking fact is that, only 20% of the contributors will have this recommended amount of RM198,600 when they retire while a great majority will have a lot less saving than this amount. And even with this amount, one shall not fall sick if one wish to live for 20 years with RM800 per month.

Under the circumstances, a good government should be thinking about how to increase our retirement savings rather than how to use our savings to save the mess that it has created, using our retirement savings to boost the present economy statistics and figures.

The present policy to reduce the contribution by 3% will be most felt by the lower middle income group when they retire.

In the last two years, the Government is targeting the general public to finance its extravagance and corruption. The following are but some of such policies:1. when international oil price was high, the people had to buy expensive petrol, but on the other hand, when the international oil price came down by more than 50%, the people are still forced to buy expensive petrol.2. cut in the subsidy on education for the poor.3. implementation of Goods & Services Tax (GST), taxing the poor.4. reducing the EPF contribution rates, using our future income.

These are only some of such policies which have a direct impact on the people. Besides these, there are also some other which are not so visible ones, like the so-called "investment land purchase deals with 1MDB" by some trust fund boards.

At the end of the day, we, the people are paying the debt of mega corruption and the wasteful spending og Barisan Nasional government for the past few decades. The worse is that, despite the people's and the nation's sufferings, such wasteful spending and corruption of the government still continues in the continuous revelation of the scandals affecting the prime minister and the non-transparent allocation to the Prime Minister's Department in our budget allocations.

We call on the government to cut GST by 3% and not to cut the EPF contributor's contribution saving rates by 3%.

COMMENT: State BN leaders like to single out opposition leaders from Malaya as "trouble makers" and "dangerous" with their political culture, but frankly, Umno leaders are more extreme in their religious and racial views.

Now, who are talking about "ketuanan Melayu", calling for the ban on the use of the word "Allah" by Christians or the seizure of the Malay version of the Bible? The list goes on.

Such words cannot be uttered by the opposition leaders from DAP, PKR and even Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah).

Thus, the warning from Wong Soon Koh, senior minister in the state cabinet that Sarawakians should be wary of the rhetoric and propaganda that might come from the opposition parties from Malaya is rather hollow.

Being a Sarawakian, Wong, who is the president of United People's Party (UPP) said that he does not wish to see that sort of political culture brought to the state.

"I know some are of religious and racial extremism and we do not allow such things to dilute or pollute Sarawak culture," Wong was quoted as saying.

"I hope all of us will be on the lookout for such propaganda or rhetoric perpetuated by members of the opposition," he said in Sibu recently.

What Wong said has been said several times before by Chief Minister Adenan Satem.

Wong's remark is indeed in line with Adenan's policy of barring opposition leaders from entering Sarawak.

Last month Nurul Izzah Anwar, PKR vice-president and MP for Lembah Pantai, was the latest opposition leader to be barred from conducting political activities in Sarawak.

She was told that the directive to bar her came from the office of the chief minister.

It will not be a surprise if more opposition leaders are barred from entering Sarawak for the coming state election.

Now the chief minister is blaming the state opposition parties for pouring cold water on the state government's efforts to seek greater autonomy.

According to him, such actions by the opposition give the perception that they (opposition) want his government to fail in its discussions with Putrajaya over the devolution of power because the public would come to the conclusion that they never wanted the extra power for Sarawak.

In the end, the people would be the ones who would lose if the discussions do not succeed, he said.

Reacting to Adenan's allegation, a furious Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen accused the chief minister of reducing himself to gutter politics by making baseless accusations that the opposition were scoffing the fight for autonomy.

"Such an accusation by Adenan is merely to try to cover up his failure in getting the federal BN to agree to more autonomy for Sarawak," said Chong, who is also the MP for Bandar Kuching and the state assemblyman for Kota Sentosa.

He said that on the contrary, it was the Sarawak DAP which had initiated and set the agenda for the autonomy movement when it launched its "2014 Bintulu Declaration – Towards Equal Partners".

Chong said that among the things mentioned in the declaration were state autonomy in education, health, internal security and taxation.

"The most important aspect of the autonomy is the autonomy in taxation where we advocate for 20% oil and gas royalties and 50% of all taxes collected in Sarawak to be returned to the state government," stressed Chong.

The DAP leader also slammed Wong for attempting to pit local parties against Malayan parties.

"This is typical of state BN leaders and their strategy harping on issues of regionalism and racism," he said, adding that Sarawakians should look at the policies of a party whether it was from Malaya or from Sarawak itself.

As far as opposition parties were concerned, they did not pose any danger to the people in the state.

"Look at the plight of Sarawakians, especially the Dayaks. Who are taking away their native customary rights (NCR) land? Who are destroying their livelihood through timber and logging activities?

"Who have oppressed and suppressed the natives, and who have neglected the welfare of the rural people?

"These problems are created by the local parties and not the opposition parties," said Chong.

He said state BN leaders were "hypocrites".

Although they knew that the majority of Umno leaders were racists, they gave them "red carpet" welcome, treated them to sumptuous dinners and even hugged them passionately, he said.

Sarawakians are not blind nor are they stupid.

"When election day comes, they will know who to vote for and they cannot be bought with sweet promises.

The Sarawak elections are set to take place by April but Pakatan Harapan here is showing little progress in resolving seat allocations claims with state DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen admitting the party was in "competition" with PKR. This was Chong's description of the situation between the DAP's Bornean chapter and the state PKR, when asked to describe the ties between the two Pakatan Harapan parties feuding over seat allocations ahead of the state elections. "We are cooperating but also competing to perform. We are cooperating by trying to reach a one-to-one (straight fights) in seats," he said. "But we also cannot just sit back and be contented and complacent when we know not much work has been done to further (the) political struggle in rural areas. "Are we to wait in our comfort zones for PKR to start really going to the rural areas to bring political awareness? It would be irresponsible for us to wait," Chong told The Malaysian Insider in a recent interview in Kuching. PKR and DAP in Sarawak have had frosty ties and while moves have been made to begin negotiations for 82 constituencies, little headway appears to have been made as the former accuses the latter of wanting to steal rural seats it has already been cultivating. DAP had a stellar performance in the last state elections in 2011, winning 12 seats – all in urban areas – out of the 15 allocated to it. PKR netted a dismal three out of 49 seats contested – the rural seat of Ba'kelalan by its state chairman Baru Bian, the Chinese-majority urban seat of Batu Lintang by its vice-chairman See Chee How and rural Dayak-majority seat of Krian by Ali Biju. DAP is now asking for 35 to 40 seats, including the 12 it already has. In March last year, he said, the party was eyeing 30 seats. PKR's position for the current seat talks is to begin negotiations with the same number of seats it was allocated in the last elections.Chong said both sides have exchanged their list of seats "and there will be discussions". He declined to reveal more details, except to say that an agreement must be reached before nomination day. The polls must be held by June when the current term of the Sarawak assembly expires. The state legislature now has 82 seats, an increase of 11 following the controversial redelineation of seat boundaries by the Election Commission.

The time frame leaves a narrow window for both parties to resolve disputes over who should field candidates in certain seats, particularly Dayak or indigenous seats, which PKR says it has worked hard to cultivate. The dispute mirrors the good reception towards DAP's rural infrastructure initiative, Impian Sarawak, its vehicle to expand its influence in the interiors. Chong shot down PKR's claims of working the ground in rural seats long before DAP came in, saying Impian Sarawak has had a greater reach compared with similar efforts by PKR. "Our reach is wider in that we have education and medical camps, besides helping to build infrastructure."Their initiatives are done under non-governmental organisations like Light Up Borneo and Barefoot Mercy. Ok, you can do that, but where is the political message? "At the end of the day, the most important thing is the political message for the kampung people, for that is where you bring about political change. When we do a rural project, we highlight that it should have been the Barisan Nasional (BN) government's responsibility and they have failed. "These are messages that must be sent out consistently over a period of time, and only then will political change slowly come to the rural areas," said Chong, who is also the Kuching parliamentarian and Kota Sentosa assemblyman. Asked about Impian Sarawak's reach, Chong said they have gone to some 30 to 40 villages, adding that the party's Sarawak chapter, comprising "several thousand members", now has more Dayak than Chinese members. In October last year, Sarawak PKR's Abun Sui Anyit said the party was "wary of the state DAP as they can't be trusted". But Chong is not letting go of PKR's poor showing of just three seats in the 2011 elections when it was allocated the bulk of seats. "My response to that is no area belongs to any party, especially when you have not won the seat," he said."Our philosophy is that if you want to contest in an area, you start working in that area and not during election time. "So we started work (in Dayak areas) right after the 2013 general election when everybody was still depressed over the opposition's failure to capture Putrajaya."That's when we started Impian Sarawak." – January 24, 2016.

Though all indications show that Sarawak Barisan Nasional is set to win big in the next state elections, the state DAP says popular moves by Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem will not have much effect on voters. Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen said many of Adenan's policy announcements have been well received, such as his crackdown on illegal logging and recognition of the Chinese schools' certification for civil service recruitment, but they remained just that – statements. Instead, had Adenan called for state elections in his first year as chief minister, the "feel-good factor" of having a new leader might have captured more support, the Bandar Kuching MP said."Adenan has packaged himself as liberal leader who is open-minded and dares to speak out against Umno. This is how he portrays himself. "But had he called for elections a year ago within the first year of being chief minister, the Adenan factor would have been stronger to entice urban voters, because of the feel-good factor."Now into his second year, he has talked a lot but has not delivered. He's missed his golden window," said Chong, whose opposition party holds 12 state seats, all of them in urban areas with large Chinese populations. The opposition has 15 seats in the current 71-seat assembly, with three held by PKR. Among Adenan's policies which impressed at first but have not been followed through, Chong said in an interview, was the state government's acceptance of the Chinese schools' United Examination Certificate (UEC) for civil service recruitment and as admission into state universities. Sarawak became the first state in Malaysia to do so, in a move seen as Adenan's attempt to win over Chinese voters who favour the opposition. Chinese education lobby groups in the peninsula are still lobbying Putrajaya for the same recognition. "His UEC announcement was impressive, but what has been done? It was just a statement. Until now, it has not seen any impact or change of state civil service recruitment policies," Chong said, adding that UEC recognition was only in a limited number of agencies and not for direct employment with the state government. Sarawak is to go to the polls in March or April, before the term of its legislative assembly expires in June, with 82 seats to be contested after 11 were added in a recent redrawing of electoral boundaries. DAP is expected to keep its 12 seats in the elections, analysts have said, and the state BN under Adenan is expected to sail through with an even bigger win because of his popular policies. Adenan became chief minister in February 2014, succeeding Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, whose massive wealth and family business empire have been documented by non-governmental groups, and who is still accused of alleged corruption and erosion of native lands in Sarawak's vast interior. Adenan has asked Sarawakians to give him only five more years to fulfil his plans for the state and promised not to stay on – a point of contrast with his predecessor who stayed in power for 33 years. While Adenan has indeed made good on his pledge to crack down on illegal logging, Chong said, Dayak or indigenous voters still lacked basic infrastructure and medical services in their longhouses."People on the ground do not feel that anything has changed, especially in rural areas. "And they know that the state government has a great part to play in policies and licences for state land and forests." Adenan, 71, has also put the Baram dam on hold but has been challenged by native rights' groups to scrap it completely over the loss of ancestral lands.Chong said the "Adenan factor" was a neutral effect in rural seats as these were already BN strongholds. "He does not add any plus points." Still, Adenan has managed to cover wide ground in capturing the local imagination.Besides the UEC recognition and crackdown on illegal logging, he has made English the second official language of the state, spoken against extremism and racism and appealed to the hearts of Sarawak nationalists who want the state to have greater autonomy from Putrajaya. He recently completed the first round of talks with the federal government for greater devolution of powers to the state, and announced that Sarawak now has the power to appoint officers in its federal civil service.Federal agencies in Sarawak also have the power to decide on projects in the state, without having to refer to ministers in Putrajaya.In urban seats where DAP has performed best, however, Chong, the Kota Sentosa assemblyman, said voters were more politically mature and understood that "political change" was needed. Asked about urban sentiments on split voting, where voters might prefer a ruling coalition representative for a local seat but the opposition at federal level, Chong said: "I think the federal government has overdone it this time, with its scandals, with the goods and services tax. "So I think people will see Sarawak BN as part of federal BN." – January 23, 2016.

I have today written to Adenan to request the State Government to provide the State scholarships to those students who were supposed to get their JPA scholarships had the Federal Government not suspend the scholarship programs for 2016.

Sarawak Government has RM27 billion reserves. What better way to use less than 1% of the said amount, than to invest in our future generation.--chong chieng jen